Nine Months
by Kitsune Moonstar
Summary: Moments throughout Riza's pregnancy.
1. Month the First

Author's Note: I do not own FMA or its characters. This is set after the end of the manga and is slightly AU. This was posted previously as part of An Apple a Day.

* * *

**Month the First**

Riza nibbled at one of the lemon squares as she and Gracia watched Elysia play in the garden. Her queasiness from earlier had gone away, but Riza was still careful. Gracia glanced at her with a fond smile.

"Maes always wanted this for you two, you know. For you and Roy to be able to have a home and a family together after everything."

Riza blinked. Part of that statement made sense to her since she and Roy were now married and living in East City, but a family? They didn't have a family. It was just the two of them. Gracia seemed to catch Riza's confusion.

"You meant you didn't know? Riza, you're more tired than usual, nauseous most mornings, and I would guess you haven't had your period for at least a month."

The words sank in. There were all true. In fact, Riza was about two weeks late for her period, but then again, she had never been that regular. The idea that she might be pregnant hadn't occurred to her. It hadn't exactly been something that she and Roy had been planning on. They had discussed starting a family more than once, but they hadn't been actively trying yet. Still, it wasn't a bad thing.

Riza smiled and rest her hands on her stomach. She realized that later on she would probably have second thoughts and doubts about this, but for the moment, happiness was her dominant feeling. Now she just had to tell Roy.

* * *

Theme: Proof


	2. Month the Second

Author's Note: I do not own FMA or its characters. This is set after the end of the manga and is slightly AU.

* * *

**Month the Second**

Whoever coined the term 'morning sickness' clear believed in understatements. Riza had bouts of nausea all throughout the day. In fact, her mornings typically weren't all that bad unless someone cooked eggs. For some reason, that smell really set her off. The rest of the day was another story. Which explained why she was bent over the toilet throwing up at four in the afternoon.

Thankfully, this time at least, her hair was held back from her face, and her husband was running a soothing hand up and down her back. It made the whole situation much more bearable. Roy had been very good about all this so far. Riza had the feeling that she might find him overprotective later on, but it was nice to have someone hold back her hair while she threw up and fuss over her afterwards.

When Riza was done heaving (at least for the moment), Roy handed her a glass of water.

"Feeling better, sweetheart?"

She nodded. "Yes."

Roy kissed her forehead and helped her to her feet. "Good. I'll fix you a cup of that tea Gracia brought. You said it helped."

Riza smiled. Maybe pregnancy wasn't so bad after all.

* * *

Theme: Hair


	3. Month the Third

Author's Note: I do not own FMA or its characters. This is set after the end of the manga and is slightly AU.

* * *

**Month the Third**

Riza nibbled at the piece of lemon cake drenched in raspberry jam. Her morning sickness had finally started to taper off, but it had been replaced by a number of cravings, especially for sweets. She honestly didn't care as long she could eat. The other thing that had become noticeable was her mood swings. Gracia blamed them on hormones, and that made sense to Riza. She had never been prone to crying jags before now.

Other than that, there weren't any visible signs of her pregnancy at the moment. Well, other than the fact that everybody claimed that she was glowing. If it had just been Roy, Riza would have ignored, but just about every one of their acquaintances mentioned it. Roy was actually currently far more nervous than she was. It had really hit him that within another six months, they would have a child to take care of. He had panicked to some extent at first, claiming that he was in no way fit to be someone's parent.

Roy had calmed down rather quickly, but it was clear that he was still a little nervous about the whole thing. Riza blamed part of that on her own family history. Her mother had died in childbirth, and while Riza wasn't her mother, Roy had always feared losing her. Riza herself wasn't concerned about that. Her own worries were more of what sort of mother she would be. But currently she was a little more concerned about where she might find maple syrup to go with the fresh strawberries she was craving.

* * *

Theme: Diet


	4. Month the Fourth

Author's Note: I do not own FMA or its characters. This is set after the end of the manga and is slightly AU.

* * *

**Month the Fourth**

Riza frowned at her reflection in the mirror. She rest her hands on her stomach. She had to face facts: her pants no longer fit. Her stomach was just too large for her to be able to fascine them. This did not exactly make Riza incredibly happy.

On the other hand, she could also now see evidence that she was pregnant. Riza splayed her hands across the small bump in her middle. Her child was growing inside there. Hers and Roy's. There were days when Riza still couldn't believe that was possible. Things had changed so much, and now they were changing once again.

Roy's arms came around her and his hands rest on top of hers. Her husband smiled at their reflection in the mirror.

"You're beautiful, you know."

Riza smiled. "Yes, but that doesn't make my pants fit."

Roy laughed. "I always thought you wearing pants was overrated."

* * *

Theme: Mirror


	5. Month the Fifth

Author's Note: I do not own FMA or its characters. This is set after the end of the manga and is slightly AU.

* * *

**Month the Fifth**

If one more person made a comment about how radiant and glowing she looked, Riza was going to shoot them. Especially if it was combined with one of those dismissive looks or a condescending tone. She was pregnant, not an invalid. She was just as capable as she had always been, and if it took shooting someone to prove that, so be it.

To be fair, neither the boys nor Roy seemed to think that she was suddenly incompetent because she was pregnant. If anything, they were more compliant than usual around the office. That could be because her mood swings lately. Her hormones had been rather more unsettled than usual, and in the past week, she had swung from murderous rage to incredible cheerfulness and everything in between. Riza wasn't entirely sure which one had scared the boys more.

But other people seemed to think that now that she was pregnant, she was incapable of doing the most basic of tasks. Admittedly, the boys in the office wouldn't let her lift or carry anything any more, but at least they had the common sense to let her run the office as usual. When people she didn't even know in stores thought she was incapable of picking up a box of tea, it was more than a little irritating. And she couldn't really shoot civilians.

Still, at least she didn't have to worry about threatening the boys in the office to get work done these days. Things could be worse.

* * *

Theme: Annoyed; Cranky


	6. Month the Sixth

Author's Note: I do not own FMA or its characters. This is set after the end of the manga and is slightly AU.

* * *

**Month the Sixth**

Clearly, her child was going to end up incredibly spoiled. That was clear given the wealth of offerings so far. Riza had known that Gracia was planning a baby shower (a good thing as Riza was not at all fond of surprise parties), but she quite honestly hadn't expected the sheer amount of gifts that she had been presented with. Especially since it was a rather small gathering.

Of course, most of the men had just sent gifts rather than coming themselves. Still, the party mainly consisted of Gracia, Elysia, Winry, Sheska, Rebecca, Maria Ross, Ranfan, Christine Mustang, and several of Roy's 'sisters'. Gracia had turned her living room into a festival of pastel colors and decorations that made one think of babies. Tea and lemon cake (one of Riza's favorites) had been served, and now Riza was finding herself inundated with gifts for the baby.

There was a beautiful receiving blanket with a rubber duck embroidered on it from Gracia, and a whole slew of baby clothes from Rebecca and Roy's 'sisters', most of them in a lovely pale green color. Chris Mustang had given her a lovely wooden rocking chair. Riza had the feeling that Chris had conspired with her grandfather for the rocking matched the wooden cradle that her grandfather had presented her and Roy with. Sheska's gift had been a book of nursery rhymes, and Riza was in the middle of opening the gift from Winry and the Elric brothers.

As her fingers peeled away the last layers of tissue paper, Riza lifted a delicate rattle and a little stuffed kitten. She smiled at Winry and thanked her before turning to the next gift. Riza wasn't going to complain about the gifts. They were all thoughtful and really quite lovely. But someone else had better have a baby as well otherwise her child was going to have more gifts than it ever needed.

* * *

Theme: Little Prince/Princess


	7. Month the Seventh

Author's Note: I do not own FMA or its characters. This is set after the end of the manga and is slightly AU.

* * *

**Month the Seventh**

Riza was nesting. She couldn't deny it any more. The room she and Roy had decided would serve as the nursery had been painted a soft sage green, and Riza had spent the last week rearranging the furniture in the room and organizing it to her satisfaction. Riza hadn't actually moved the furniture (that would have probably given Roy a panic attack), but she had supervised it being moved several times. But now she was pretty satisfied with the way the room looked.

Sitting down in the rocking chair by the window, Riza let out a soft sigh. She rest a hand on her stomach. She definitely looked pregnant now. It felt like just overnight she had increased in size. None of her regular clothes fit well anymore, and her mobility was definitely decreasing. Though it was still had to believe that in just another two months or so there would be a baby occupying this room. As real as this whole situation was, it was also very surreal at times. Sometimes Riza felt that she was going to wake to find that it had all been a dream, and that she still lived alone in a small apartment with a dog and was working to push Mustang to the top.

"Are you rearranging the room again, sweetheart? I thought you said it was perfect last time."

Riza looked up to see her husband standing in the doorway and smiled.

* * *

Theme: Chair


	8. Month the Eighth

Author's Note: I do not own FMA or its characters. This is set after the end of the manga and is slightly AU.

* * *

**Month the Eighth**

Her feet hurt. And her back, and Riza really wished that this was all over with. Couldn't she just get to the part where she actually had the baby? With a groan, Riza leaned back in the chair. It didn't really help that she had nothing much to do either. She had just gone on maternity leave in the last month, and she was already bored to tears. It didn't help that her feet were swollen and that moving around too much was uncomfortable. She could only read so many books before she got bored.

Riza ran a hand through her hair. She knew that she had been more than a little cranky with everyone lately. It wasn't her fault. It was her idiot of a husband who had gotten her pregnant, but she was the one who had to suffer. She wasn't sure if sending the man out at all hours of the night in order to satisfying her cravings for things like pineapple juice or salted mackerel with orange marmalade was punishment enough. After all, he wasn't the one who had backaches, swollen feet, and looked like a whale.

She was definitely ready for the baby to arrive.

* * *

Theme: Hot Temper


	9. Month the Ninth

Author's Note: I do not own FMA or its characters. This is set after the end of the manga and is slightly AU.

* * *

**Month the Ninth**

Riza wasn't sure she could remember what her feet looked like. It seemed like years since she had last seen them, though Riza knew it had really only been a few months. However, that didn't keep her from feeling rather large and ungainly. But it wouldn't last too much longer. She just had weeks to go before her due date, and she was rather relieved about that. They were all more than ready for this baby to arrive.

Roy especially seemed to get more and more nervous the closer they got to her due date. He worried over everything. He worried about what would happen if he wasn't with her when she went into labor. He worried about what the weather would be like when she went into labor and if they would be able to make it to the hospital. He worried about any number of minor issues from what time would she go into labor and if he would sleep through it to what sort of alcohol it was proper to toast a new birth with.

Riza wasn't as worried. Whatever happened would happen, and in the end, the baby would be born. One way or another. Quite honestly, Riza would just be happy to have it all over with and be able to hold her child.

* * *

Theme: Just a Memory


	10. Birth

Author's Note: I do not own FMA or its characters. This is set after the end of the manga and is slightly AU.

* * *

**Birth**

Riza was considering shooting someone, except for the fact that Roy had hidden her guns and that probably wouldn't mean that she would be getting any sleep anytime soon. She hadn't had any sleep in the pasty twenty-eight hours, and it was making her more than a little cranky. The contractions had a little to do with that. Riza had been in labor for at least twenty hours now, and she was more than ready for it to be over.

She hadn't been able to get to sleep last night, and after a number of sleepless hours, it had finally dawned on her that the pains that were irritating her weren't a backache but contractions. That had meant waking up her husband and getting the two of them to the hospital. Roy had been mildly panicked once he realized what was going on, but he had handled things better than expected. There had been no wrong turns, and he had only yelled at one of the other drivers on the road.

And once they had gotten to the hospital, things had not been easy or over with quickly. It had taken some major insisting (and threats) from Riza to have Roy stay in the room with her. Then nothing more had happened save for more contractions for the past several hours. The only thing of note had been her water breaking about five minutes ago.

"We're almost done, Mrs. Mustang. I need you to push on the next contraction," the doctor said.

"Hawkeye-Mustang," Roy corrected from where he stood beside her, holding her hand.

"Whatever," the doctor rolled his eyes. "Now push."

Riza glared at him. But she did push, and she kept pushing.

"Just a little more. The baby's head is out. Just one more push should do it."

Minutes latter, a bundle wrapped in a white blanket was placed in her arms. Riza smiled down at her daughter.

* * *

Theme: Good Night


End file.
